


Regeneration

by President Romana (asoldandtrueasthesky)



Category: Gallifrey (Big Finish Audio)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-24
Updated: 2016-04-24
Packaged: 2018-06-04 15:39:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6664492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asoldandtrueasthesky/pseuds/President%20Romana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Narvin only has one life and Romana never forgets it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Regeneration

It was strange, somehow, seeing the Academy full of students again. The last time she seen it it’d been their last stronghold in a civil war. The buildings bear no marks of the war, returned to pristine condition but she can feel the scars in the student psyche, they were no longer children. Those that had took her words to heart and had treated the aliens as people had watched their friends die and all of them had seen their home enveloped in turmoil, seen the violence. Some had taken part in it.

But her speech wasn’t meant to be about that. It was meant to be about some policy initiative or something equally unimportant but when she stood at the front of the hall, faced with a room full of tired faces who probably couldn’t care less about what some politicians in distant rooms had decided would help them when they had seen the very fabric of their society crumble, proof that their world wasn’t the safe, stable place they had always assumed it to be she couldn’t continue with it.

Instead she said all the things she knew their Professors would leave unspoken. She talked about what they had seen, about Pandora and the daleks and how they needed to learn tolerance or history would only repeat itself again. She left the hall feeling like she had done something worthwhile, made a difference, a rare feeling as of late.

Leela meets up with her as she walks out, K-9 tailing them.

“It was a good speech.” Leela took her hand. “Though you did not need that many long words.”

“I like the long words, Leela.”

Their routine disagreement was cut short. A small group that had been lying in wait starts firing at them and the air fills with bullets.

Leela reacts first, pushing her to the ground and covering her head in one swift movement and didn’t let go, as if afraid she would disappear the moment she relaxed.

Romana keeps still. She can hear the staserfire from both sides and can feel the chaos around her. Leela, by comparison, is a comfortingly quiet spot in a haze of terrified telepaths.

Distantly, she realises how quickly she’s adjusted, how easily her mind switches to casualties and injuries; how they live their lives poised to fix the next crisis and how is she meant to do anything if half the time she’s just trying to keep everyone alive?

There’s the final discharge of a staser and suddenly it’s over. Leela helps her on to her feet.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes but you need to go inside-“ Leela stops, realising Romana has already disappeared into the crowd, somehow avoiding all the other people who were meant to make sure the President was safe.

Romana looks around, trying to remember where Narvin had been. She can’t relax until she knows they’re all safe and she doesn’t trust anyone else to check. She wanders around, still disorientated, until she finds him sitting down.

She tries to ask, “Are you okay?” but her breath catches.

Narvin is staring at her, his eyes blank with shock and blood on his hands. She has just enough time to locate the wound before Narvin slumps forwards and she catches him and he’s in her arms and she can’t hear his hearts. She’s barely aware when Leela comes charging forward and shouts for help, sounding equal parts furious and worried.  

She tries to stay calm, panic won’t help Narvin, and realises one of his hearts is still beating. She focuses on that because the alternative is unthinkable. There’s a flood of guards about to take him to the medbay but she knows the medbay’s far away, she knows the survival rates of wounds to a heart. And Narvin doesn’t have any regenerations left.

But Romana does. She couldn’t leave it chance, she couldn’t let Narvin bleed to death in her arms. She gently places a hand on his forehead and closes her eyes, blocking out the roar of running students and authority figures pretending the situation is under control, focusing on all her lives.

The theory had only been covered briefly at the Academy, giving away regenerations was not the done thing, it required altruism which had never been abundant on Gallifrey. But it’s not hard, she’s triggered them before and it’s what Narvin’s body was born to do, is trying to do and soon her hands are glowing and Narvin is breathing.

Someone’s trying to pull her away and someone else- Leela, probably- warns them off, trusting her judgement; anyway, it’s not like anyone’s ever been able to change her mind after it’s made up. The energy envelops them, Narvin cocooned in a golden haze. She can feel it healing him, that part is easy, the hard part is stopping.

Finally, Leela says, “Romana.” And the world comes back into focus.

She breathes, suddenly aware of everything else again as the energy begins to fade. She takes her hand off his forehead and his eyelids flutter open.

The guards assigned to her try to rush her off to the nearest medic but she snaps at them, “I’m not the one who was just shot!” even though her hands are red-hot and burning and she’s fairly sure she’s close to fainting.

Leela’s by her side immediately, a worried hand on her shoulder. “What did you do?”

She stares at her hands with a strangely satisfying exhaustion. “I saved him.”

 -

After hearing he was conscious and talking Romana visits his room, glad to have the excuse to leave a slow meeting in which nothing of consequence was really being done. He’s not as happy to see her as she would have liked.

“Romana! That was reckless! You can’t do that, you could have used them all up.”

“I feel like you should be shouting at me less. Grateful, even. I’m not expecting grovelling but a `Thank you for saving my life, Madam President, I’m glad you’re not dead or anything` wouldn’t go amiss.”

“You shouldn’t have done it. You can’t risk your life for me.”

“They were shooting at _me_!” she says, suddenly serious.

“And they missed. I’m glad they did.”

“You’ve saved me before, Narvin.” She frowns, eyes narrowing in defiance. “How is this any different?”

“It just is! You’re my President and Gallifrey needs you. It’s not meant to go the other way.”

“I don’t remember `no longer allowed to endanger my life for the sake of my friends` being in the oath.”

“I think it’s meant to be implied in that they give you an entire squadron of guards and a bodyguard.”

“How is it fair that _you_ could die because someone disagreed with _me_?”

“You can’t endanger your life for fairness Romana!” he almost shouts and then breaks off into a fit of coughing.

Romana softens at that, reminded of how fragile his condition was. “I think you’re being rather disrespectful to your President.”

“My President’s being an idiot.”

She raises an eyebrow at that. “Is she, now?”

“I blame the pain relief, Madam President. Besides, you wouldn’t reprimand someone who just got himself shot for you, would you?”

She rolls her eyes and tries not to smile. “It’s good to see you’re back to normal already, Coordinator.”

“I’ll be back to work tomorrow.”

“No you won’t. The medics insisted you get at least a week of bed-rest.”

He stares at her, looking utterly betrayed. “Is this for what I said earlier because I can assure you you’re very intelligent, enough to know that the CIA couldn’t possibly function-“  

“-The CIA will survive.” She says firmly, “You were, as you were so quick to remind me, almost dying a matter of spans ago.”

He mutters something under his breath but nods and she turns to leave.

“Romana?”

She looks back. “Hm?”

“Thank you.”  

She smiles. Their world was cruel and imperfect and people who disagreed with her words could shoot at her but Narvin was _alive_ , they were all alive.


End file.
